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ADDRESS 



THE PROGRESS 



POPULAR SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND KNOWLEDGE, 



THE UNITED STATES, 



AND TIIKIR 



PRESENT CONDITION AND PROSPECTS IN TENNESSEE. 



DELIVERED 

Before the Alurnni Society of the Nashville University, at Nashville, Tcfirtessce, 

October I, 1S3(5 ; 



THE HON. E. J. SHIELDS. 



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WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY GALES AND SEA T () N. 
1836. 






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ADDRESS 



THE PR OGRE 



POPULAR SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND KNOWLEDGE, 



THE UNITED STATES, 



AND THEIR 



PRESENT CONDITION AND PROSPECTS IN TENNESSEE, 



DELIVERED 



Before the Alumni Society of the Nashville University, at Nashville, Tenneggee, 

October 4, 1836, 



BY THE 



HON. E. J, SHIE LD 



lj WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY GALES AND SEATON. 
1836. 



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Extracts from the Minutes or the Alumni Society. 

At a regular meeting of the Alumni Society of the Nashville University, 
holden at the Presbyterian Church, on Wednesday, the 5th October, 1836, the 
following resolutions were offered by T. T. Smiley, Esquire, and unanimously 
adopted: 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Alumni Society be presented to the Hon. 
E. J. Shields, for the able and satisfactory manner with which he discharged 
the duties of anniversary orator. 

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to inform him of the pas- 
sage of the above resolution, and to request a copy of his address for publica- 
tion. 

Whereupon the Chair appointed Thos. T. Smiley, V. P. Winchester, and 
Turner Vaughan, Esquires. 



Nashville, October 6, 1836. 
Sih: At a meeting of the Alumni Society of the Nashville University, held 
at the Presbyterian Church in this city, on the evening of the 5th instant, the 
undersigned were appointed a committee to express to you the thanks of the 
society for the able and satisfactory manner in which you discharged the duty 
of anniversary orator on the 4th instant; and to request of you a copy of the 
address delivered on the occasion, for publication. 

In discharging the duty imposed on us, allow us to express also the high 
regard with which we are, individually, 

Yours, respectfully, 

THOS. T. SMILEY, 
TURNER VAUGHAN, 
V. P. WINCHESTER, 
Hon. E. J. Shields. Committee. 



Nashville, October 6, 1836. 

Gentlemen: Your polite note, of the present date, has just been received. 

The flattering terms in which your communication is couched, together with 
the sentiments contained in the resolutions which accompany it, (whatever my 
own opinions might otherwise have been,) have induced me at once to yield to 
your request a ready compliance. I have therefore forwarded, herewith, a copy 
of "the address," for the object which you contemplate. 

You will be pleased to permit me to tender, through you, to the society which 
you represent, and of which you compose a part, my grateful acknowledgments 
for this evidence of your and their approbation of the humble effort referred to 
in your letter and the resolutions. 

And accept for yourselves, individually, assurances of my very high regard 
and esteem, 

And believe that I remain, with profound respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

E. J. SHIELDS, 

Messrs. Thos. T. Smilet, 

Turner Vaughan, and V. P. Winchester. 



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ADDRESS, 



Gentlemen Alumni : 

In discharging my present duty I trust I shall 
have your kind indulgence. The importance of the task 
to be performed, the ability of those who have preceded 
me, and circumstances which have recently connected 
me with other exciting pursuits, preclude the hope that 
I shall be able, on this occasion, to meet the general, or 
even my own expectation. 

We should, however, be encouraged by the presence 
of so numerous and respectable an audience, which very 
flatteringly evinces the interest that is felt for our success 
in the common effort we are making, to improve the mind, 
to cultivate the heart, and to advance the happiness of 
man. 

To one who is sincerely devoted to the welfare of his 
countiy it must be gratifying to reflect on the rapid ad- 
vancement and general diffusion of science, literature, and 
knowledge, which, during the present century, have taken 
place in our own country. How accelerated soever may 
have been the progress of other nations in all those pur- 
suits which elevate and ennoble the human character, we 
may (at least) boast of our superiority to many of those 
illiberal prejudices and misdeeds in government, which 
tend so much in other countries to cramp the genius, sour 



6 

the mind, and disturb the social relations of life. Among 
us the lights of science, freed from primitive restraints, 
are no longer imprisoned within the schools of philoso- 
phers, the courts of the great, or the mansions of the 
wealthy ; but learning, like all of Heaven's best gifts be- 
stowed on man, if we shall but act in accordance with the 
spirit of the age in which we live, will soon become as 
universal as it is useful. 

This wide-spread diffusion of light and knowledge is 
and must be one of the results of that happy constitution 
which was won and secured to us by our sires, and which 
constitutes the chief distinction and glory of this nation. 
In other countries, the great body of the people, from the 
nature of their political institutions, are comparatively 
destitute of wealth and power, and consequently bear but 
little part, or are altogether disregarded, in the direction 
of public affairs and the administration of government, 
In this country the case is entirely different. While the 
freedom of the press, the freedom of religion, and the 
liberty of speech are maintained, and the rewards of in- 
dustry are hedged around in perfect security by the laws ? 
monopolies in wealth are no longer legalized. Our wise 
statutes of distribution have broken down the distinctions 
of entailed opulence, and with it hereditary consequence » 
The chances of wealth, left free to individual enterprise^ 
are as general as the acquisition of science and know- 
ledge is unrestrained. The absolute equality of rights is 
secured by canons fixed and unalterable, except by culti- 
vated and enlightened public opinion. The rights of the 
sovereign and the obligations of the subject, correlatively 
united in the person of the citizen, are happily blended, and 
carried into successful practice by the popular will. Sov- 
ereignty is universally diffused. The law-making power 
which, in other governments, is arbitrarily wielded or 



unlimited in its extent, is here dependent on written 
charters, regulated by free, independent, and general 
suffrage. 

With such inducements, is it surprising that philan- 
thropic statesmen, and men of letters, have of late directed 
their studies and their means to the improvement of every 
class of the citizens of the republic ; and that the success ' 
already gained is commensurate with the hopes of the 
most ardent patriot, and so prophetic of a prosperous and 
a happy future'? Among our cotemporaries, the names of 
Jefferson, Smithson, Girard, and others, are already con- 
spicuously distinguished in this ample field of enterprise 
and noble-daring in the cause of letters. Their munifi- 
cence, patriotism, and forecast, have erected, and are 
erecting for their country, the most enduring monuments 
of fame ; and bulwarks more to be relied on in the de- 
fence of free institutions, than a Chinese wall, the military 
castles of feudal lords, or the boasted fortifications of more 
modern advocacy. Their memories will be cherished, and 
their names regarded as the benefactors of the human 
race, until patriotism itself shall cease to be a virtue, and 
while learning is held in honor and reverence among 
men. 

The progress of the arts in the American States for the 
last half century, and their present maturity, would have 
been regarded in other times, if not as divine, as highly 
precocious, and fearfully portentous of premature decay. 
The palsying hand of superstition would have been up- 
lifted against the omen. If we shall compare the advance- 
ment of improvement in the arts and all the more refined 
sciences in this country, with that of any other age or na- 
tion, will not the preponderance be found to result greatly 
in our favor ] What ages of successive labor and refine- 
ment were required in the Grecian republics to prepare 



8 

the way for the soul-stirring eloquence of Demosthenes,, 
and the high-wrought fancy of Homer, 

The literature of Greece, which still continues to en- 
lighten and refine the world, occupied a series of eight 
centuries in progressive cultivation, succeeding the Trojan 
war, before it reached the zenith of that beauty and puri- 
ty and excellence which it finally attained in the age of 
Pericles* 

The Augustan age, which combines in it all that ig 
useful, refined, and elegant in Roman literature ; the 
age in which Cicero transferred whatever of Grecian elo- 
quence and erudition that was left, from Athens to Rome, 
and in which Virgil rivalled, in the purity of his morals 
and the beauty and harmony of his numbers, the ancient 
land of song, was eight centuries removed from the 
foundation of the imperial city. The full development of 
French literature was, also, in the eighth century from 
the establishment of the first rudiments of their language. 
But the progress of Arabian literature was much more- 
rapid. In a century and a half from the foundation of 
the monarchy, Bagdad was at once the throne of the 
Caliphs and " the centre of literature." The same spirit 
soon overspread the peninsular cities, and " Spain" was 
quickly said " to be more especially the seat of Arabian 
learning," and rivalled the other quarters of the world in 
the magnificence of its schools, colleges, academies, and 
libraries. Their literature alone may be regarded as bearing 
a striking similitude to our own, in the rapidity of its pro- 
gression. In tracing this part of history, we are at a los& 
to account for the quick transition, in a nation that had been,, 
previous to the period of which we are speaking, only 
distinguished in arms, from a barbarous state to a high 
degree of refinement in the cultivation of all that is most 
excellent in human knowledge. However, in the language 



of history, " they united in themselves the advantages of 
all the nations they had subjugated"— of the magii and 
Chaldeans, of Egypt, the storehouse of human science. 
They also possessed the "rich inheritance of Grecian lit- 
erature ;" and, above all, the cultivation of science was the 
idol, and had the zealous successive patronage of several 
of their most illustrious and enlightened sovereigns. The 
very court of the Caliphs had more the appearance, it is 
said, of a learned academy than of the seat of the Govern- 
ment of a great empire. This accounts, in some measure, 
for the astonishing rise and progress of Arabian literature, 
and is additional proof of the hypothesis, that nothing 
tends so much to give wings to genius, and permanency 
and utility to science, as certain rewards for eminence and 
excellence in their attainment, popular approbation, and 
the patronage of Government. 

It would, perhaps, be uninteresting, and indeed more 
curious than useful, to endeavor to determine, with any 
degree of precision, the exact point of time at which the 
mighty impetus was given to the onward march of human 
knowledge that has produced the great results of our 
own country and times. It may not, however, be un- 
profitable to trace some of the life-giving principles and 
leading motives which have had a more direct and imme- 
diate agency in their final accomplishment. The invention 
of the mariner's compass in the fourteenth century, the 
spirit of maritime improvement consequent upon it, and 
the subsequent discovery and settlement of a new conti- 
nent, may not be regarded among the least of those agents 
that have been at work in the moral world. Nothing 
" could be more favorable to the development of the hu- 
man powers," or offer stronger inducements to the indus- 
try and emulation of man, than the circumstances under 
which these events transpired. The discovery itself of a 



10 

new and unexplored continent, its mountains, rivers, 
lakes, and boundless forests, the inexhaustible fertility of 
the soil, the salubrity of the climate, the various and 
amazing resources of the country, the contiguity of a 
strange and a savage race of men, the rivalry of some 
of their contemporaries who were engaged in colonizing, 
and the fame of others who were pillaging the new world, 
(I will be indulged the expression,) for the avaricious 
Spaniard, in pursuit of gold, carrying with him the 
sword, the cross, and the inquisition, had rifled the 
treasures, and revelled in the palaces of Montezuma, 
and the various commotions that pervaded all Europe, 
from a general spirit of invention, enterprise, and discov- 
ery, were circumstances eminently calculated to produce 
that excitation and intensity of feeling and interest in the 
first emigrants to the Western hemisphere, which usually 
precede any great moral or physical movement in the 
advancement of human knowledge or human happiness. 
The character, likewise, of the pilgrim fathers, who 
first landed on the rock of Plymouth, and the prin- 
ciples they brought with them and inculcated, were, in 
no small degree, promotive of those results which followed 
that event in such rapid succession, and which have 
added so much knowledge to the store-house of science, 
and shed so much lustre on the American name. But I 
will not undertake to defend their names, entirely, against 
the obloquy, the prejudices, the folly of the age in which 
they lived. " Theirs was an intolerant age." They fled 
from persecution, and became persecutors themselves in 
their turn. The abominable veil of superstition was still 
unbroken, and beclouded the understandings of men ; and 
it must be admitted (in the language of a late author) 
" that they who enacted, from the purest motives of con- 
science, all the extravagances of the blue laws," were not 



11 

a little imbued with the gross darkness and folly of the 
age. Still, they had many redeeming qualities. They 
brought with them the most enlightened political creed of 
their times ; and the Bible was their guide, their text- 
book—" the only elevated, pure, and consistent code of 
ethics which the world has ever known." They were a 
pious race ; and never was that divine precept, which 
teaches that " righteousness exalteth a nation," more 
strikingly exemplified than in the sequel of the history of 
the colonies, and of " the noble empire of the wandering 
pilgrims." 

Also, in advancement and aid of the results, (of which 
we have been speaking,) was the great discovery of the 
fifteenth century. The art of printing had awakened a 
general spirit of inquiry, and given a new impulse to the 
acquisition of knowledge. This wonderful equalizer of 
human intelligence was making its way into every village, 
and hamlet, and cottage, dissipating the spell that had so 
long cloistered and monopolized the learning of the mid- 
dle ages, and that had benighted and enslaved the world. 
The universal diffusion of information it produced, ena- 
bled every one to appropriate to himself the accumulated 
wisdom and experience of all the ages that had preceded 
him ; and, indeed, more immediately in consequence of 
the increase of intelligence, and the facility of its commu- 
nication, dependent on this important discovery, were the 
dignity and equality of human nature maintained, and the 
unalienable rights of man asserted. Upon these princi- 
ples, the ability and right of self-government in the peo- 
ple, by agents of their own choosing, without the inter- 
vention of king, lords, or aristocracy, were propagated 
and "inculcated with the power of the press and the force 
of truth. The events that followed this enlightenment of 
the public mind on the science of government are written 



12 

on the escutcheon of our nation's honor. They have been 
emblazoned to the world, and are engraved on the hearts 
of our countrymen. Like the twelve tables of the Roman 
law, they are (carmen necessarium) " the necessary les- 
son" of every school-boy. 

The Revolution formed a new and momentous era in our 
history. Notwithstanding our colonial ancestors were a har- 
dy and virtuous race of men, and many of them were learned 
and even accomplished scholars, who were the Palinuruses 
of the Revolution, yet our nation maybe regarded as having 
been not only in a state of vassalage, but also in a state of 
comparative pupilage, previous to this great crisis. From 
the sudden achievement of our independence, and the tri- 
umph of principle that was achieved by it, as well as the 
onward impulse that was given to "the cause of civil and re- 
ligious liberty," and of the great moral interests of the coun- 
try, by the happening of that glorious event, has it not been 
well said " that, as a nation, we have passed through no 
age of fabulous obscurity, nor useless years of feeble infan- 
cy, but stepped forth at maturity in the panoply of war, like 
Minerva, from the brain of Jove 1" What numerous in- 
ventions and countless improvements in the arts, founded 
on scientific discovery, date their origin since the birth of 
our national independence ; and how successful has been 
their application to purposes of the highest utility. What 
section of our wide-spread country or of the world is 
there so remote or obscure, which has not felt the com- 
forts or enjoyed the benefits of the improvements and 
discoveries of the first half century of the American Re- 
public'? The most liberal principles in religion, politics, 
and the arts, have been propagated throughout Christen- 
dom. Men have been taught to think for themselves, and 
a general spirit of improvement is every where abroad. 
This may, indeed, be eminently denominated the age of 



13 

movement. Time and space have yielded to the master 
spirits of the present century. The extremities of our 
vast republic are brought into a close proximity ; the union 
of the confederated States is ensured (if ensurance there 
can be) by ties the most indissoluble ; a free and constant 
intercourse among the citizens, and a community of inter- 
est. A new agent is at work, and commerce rides upon 
our waters, and is transported on our roads, with a security 
and rapidity that rivals example and defies competition. Its 
agency, likewise, is perhaps not less efficient in its moral 
tendencies, and no where more seen and felt than in our 
Western commerce. The celerity of transportation effected 
by this new power has already had a most happy influence 
on the morals of a large portion of our countrymen who are 
engaged in the navigation of the Western waters. The 
boatsman no longer loiters in the villages on the banks of 
the Mississippi in inglorious idleness, or in the sinks of dis- 
sipation. His character is altogether changed. He is car- 
ried rapidly " from port to port," under rigid and wholesome 
discipline, observed and enforced by enlightened men, 
who are themselves worthy to be intrusted with the highly 
responsible charge of the great commerce of the West. 
But I will not enlarge on a theme, however interesting, 
that has become so trite. " The philosophy of railroads 
and steam engines is, that, in subduing time and space, 
they lengthen a man's life ; for they enable him, within 
the limited period of his residence on earth, to do, for good 
or evil, all that the multitude of years could have enabled 
him without their aid to effect." 

The unexampled improvement, prosperity, and vigorous 
growth of our country, have been mainly owing to a wise 
and equitable administration of Government, under the 
operations of our free and justly-cherished institutions. Ac- 
cidental causes, however, have likewise contributed much 



14 

to the promotion of these great objects. The brilliant suc- 
cess of our arms in the war of independence, the bright 
hopes of new-born liberty, the acquisition and settlement of 
the vast and fertile valley of the Mississippi, the novelty of 
our institutions, and the enthusiasm they inspired, could 
not but animate the orator, the poet, the politician, the 
statesman, the citizen, the warrior, to deeds of virtue and 
patriotism. It cannot, therefore, be reasonably expected 
that, amidst the vicissitudes of coming events, the full 
tide of prosperity, which has attended the early years of 
the republic, will continue to flow on, as a matter of 
course, with increased interest and velocity throughout 
the inevitable changes of future time. The exercise of 
self-government has always been arduous, difficult, and 
even perilous. The difficulty of the task to be performed 
is proportioned to the magnitude of the object obtained. 
It must be remembered that "the price of liberty is eternal 
vigilance ;" but to despair of the perpetuated existence of 
our free institutions, and a continuation of their blessings, 
would be treason against the memories of our fore- 
fathers, against our country, against conscience, reason, 
liberty, posterity ! I cannot believe that this country, 
which was designed by the Author of Nature to be free, 
united, and happy, is soon to become a prey to the in- 
trigues of party, the schemes of restless and ambitious 
rulers, or the more dangerous consequences of a wanton 
destitution of intellectual, and moral, and religious know- 
ledge. The political conflicts that have occasionally, in 
the morning of our existence, created the most lively ap- 
prehensions in the bosom of the patriot for the safety of 
the republic, have uniformly resulted in the confirmation 
of the integrity, wisdom, and virtue of the American peo- 
ple. The tongue that has had the temerity to suggest, 
or the hand that would have attempted the severance of 



'- 



15 

the Union or the overthrow of constitutional government, 
is palsied in the effort. The power of base money has 
given way to popular opinion. The profligate and waste- 
ful use of the public treasure, for sinister or ambitious 
purposes, is met and crushed at the threshold. The 
wild theories of agrarianism, and other Utopian projects 
which have occasionally found advocates, are treated as 
the mania of visionary minds, or as the depraved aspira- 
tions of unprincipled demagogues : virtue and patriotism 
are still triumphant : public opinion is every thing. This 
is as it should be in a Government like ours. It is the 
mighty lever that now gives direction to the civilized 
world, and that must continue, for unnumbered ages yet 
to come, to move forward the principles of civil liberty, 
and to sustain the great fabrics of free government every 
where. The destinies of mankind are dependent on its 
decrees. It is the aggregate learning and wisdom of the 
community. Its foundations are laid deep in the bosom 
of society. The laws of gravitation are not more certain 
in their results than the truth of this fact, that public 
opinion can never rise in elevation and refinement beyond 
the sources of information that are made accessible to the 
great mass of the people. To cultivate, to enlighten, and 
to refine public opinion, must, therefore, be the paramount 
duty of every friend of his country. And who, of what- 
ever school, creed, or sect, in politics or religion, will deny 
that a general diffusion of knowledge among the people 
is the basis of enlightened public opinion ; and that its per- 
fection can only be attained by a universal, well-ordered, 
and thorough system of education. 

However important and indisputable this fact is, Ten- 
nessee has, notwithstanding, but a feeble claim to a partici- 
pation in whatever of honor and credit is due the whole 
country for the promotion of science, or for contributing 



16 

to the establishment of any general system of education. 
That she is, indeed, far in the rear of several of her 
sister States in the cultivation of letters, and in the ad- 
vancement of the arts and sciences, will not, cannot be 
denied. While she has been actively engaged in defend- 
ing her own territories, and, in truth, " the entire West," 
from savage depredations waged in " fierce border wars" 
— in winning fresh laurels by the defence of the whole 
nation in glorious conflict with a foreign foe — in remov- 
ing the natural obstructions to civilization that exist in 
every newly-settled and uncultivated region, many of her 
sister States have far outstripped her in the more solid 
and substantial improvements of the mind, and in estab- 
lishing the permanent means of communicating and per- 
petuating knowledge among the great body of the people. 
It is, nevertheless, true, that many of her sons, by the 
mere force of genius and an unusual energy of character, 
combined with the peculiar events of the times, have 
nobly and successfully contended for the front rank in 
military enterprise and renown, and for the highest civil 
honors within the gift of the nation. But the period has 
now arrived when we can no longer rely on fortuitous 
circumstances, or the genius and energy of our citizens, 
alone, for usefulness and distinction in the advanced state 
of society with which we are surrounded, or in the lauda- 
ble emulation and rivalry that must exist among the sister 
States in all future time. The scenes around us have 
changed, and men must change. The Indian has ceased 
to claim dominion, or to way-lay the path in ambush. 
The wilderness has yielded to the arts of civilization. 
The " boundless forests" of the West have given place 
to smiling fields, abounding with all the necessaries, and 
even luxuries of life ; and also with the " richest staple of 
the world," which yearly adds a new tide of wealth to 



the general stock. "The glories of peace, indeed, out- 
shine the illusions of war." When did ambition or pa- 
triotism have a fairer field or stronger motives for action X 
" Or when went there by" a time, since this country was 
fivst visited by the adventurous pioneer or the wandering 
hunter, so auspicious for mental culture as the present? 
The world is beginning to be alive to its true interest with 
regard to education ; and never were a people more bless- 
ed with precept or example than are the citizens of Ten- 
nessee on this vitally interesting and absorbing subject, 
Even in Europe, and from portions of that country, 
too, which have not heretofore been famous for enter- 
prise in the acquisition or dissemination of knowledge, 
especially among the community at large, it is proclaim- 
ed " that the schoolmaster is abroad," and " that floods 
of intellectual light are poured upon the lower ranks of 
society," (as the commonalty are styled on the other side 
the waters.) Prussia, a few years since, had no less than 
thirty-three public schools, expressly for the instruction of 
teachers, which supplied preceptors, accomplished in the 
knowledge and learning of the country, sufficient to pre- 
side over all the literary institutions established by Gov- 
ernment throughout the kingdom ; and out of upwards 
of two millions of children in the Prussian dominions, 
all except about twenty thousand are taught at the public 
expense ; the residue receive their literary instructions at 
private academies. Similar systems have, likewise, long 
since obtained in Germany and Austria. And France, 
within the last five years, has also adopted a like system 
of education ; the beneficial effects of which, it is said, 
" are already visible in the habits and employments of 
her citizens." It is to be devoutly hoped that the ca- 
naille of this ancient, proud, and chivalrous nation, will 
be speedily redeemed from the deep degradation and 
2 



18 

thraldom into which an almost total destitution of moral 
and religious culture has so long plunged that portion of 
this versatile but gallant people. England, too, has 
done but little in the way of educating the common peo- 
ple ; the pernicious effects of a failure to perform so im- 
portant a social duty are also strikingly manifested in 
the operations of her institutions, and in the degraded 
and destitute condition of a large class of her population. 
In turning from this brief reference to the present sys- 
tems and condition of education in some of the European 
states, it is cheering to observe the wonder-working pro- 
gress of the common-school system in several, and the 
preparation for its adoption in other, of the sister States 
of our own dear America. The young American republics 
are beginning to wake up in their strength, and to bring 
their mighty resources to bear upon the cultivation of mind ; 

" To pour upon their patriot sons 
Instruction's living ray." 

A common-school system, such, in some respects, as was 
unsuccessfully attempted, a few years since, to be set on 
foot in our own State, has been in successful operation in 
the great State of New York for the last twenty years. The 
whole State is laid off into small districts, to each of 
which a competent teacher is assigned ; the Common- 
wealth discharges one-half of the entire expense, and re- 
quires the other half to be defrayed by an equitable 
contribution upon the inhabitants of the respective dis- 
tricts. The children of the rich and the poor are admitted 
alike into these schools, without charge or distinction. 
The fruits of this system have met the most sanguine 
expectations of its friends. In 1832, four hundred and 
ninety-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine, out of 
five hundred and eight thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-eight children in that State, " were regular pupils 



19 

at common schools," leaving but a trifling fraction to be 
educated elsewhere. 

In the large and respectable State of Massachusetts, 
under the operation of a system somewhat similar, but 
"where nearly the whole expense is required by law to be 
defrayed by the districts or townships themselves, in 1832 
" there were but ten persons between the ages of fourteen 
and twenty-one who could not read and. write"- — never 
were a people so well educated. Several of the other 
States, with like systems, but, perhaps, in some respects 
less perfect, have enjoyed corresponding benefits. Surely, 
nothing in the way of example can be more animating 
and encouraging to the friends and patrons of a liberal 
and popular system of instruction. 

But, furthermore, to pursue example on this subject, it 
is also provided in the constitution of the State of Maine, 
(which is, comparatively, but a new State,) that " a gen- 
ral diffusion of the advantages of education being essen- 
tial to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the 
people, to promote this important object the Legislature 
are authorized, and it shall be their duty, to require the 
several towns to make suitable provision, at their own ex- 
pense, for the support and maintenance of schools, * * * 
and to encourage, and suitably to endow, from time to 
time, as the circumstances of the people may authorize, 
all academies, colleges, and seminaries of learning within 
the State." So completely have the Legislature complied 
with the requisition in this article of the fundamental law 
of the State, that, in 1834, one hundred and one thousand 
three hundred and twenty-five persons, between the ages 
of four and twenty-one, out of one hundred and thirty- 
seven thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, were attend- 
ing school, by authority of Government, under this wise 
constitutional provision. 



20 

It would be a useless consumption of your time to give 
the details of education in its progress in all the New 
England States. They have always been distinguished 
for their excellent system of common education. It is, 
perhaps, to their example that New York owes the de- 
tails of its system of common schools which we have 
described, and probably to this cause she is chiefly in- 
debted for their present success and prosperity. The 
whole school fund of Connecticut, one of these States, 
productive aud unproductive, was reported, in 1832, to be 
one million nine hundred and two thousand nine hundred 
and fifty-seven dollars and eighty-seven cents ; and the 
interest accruing thereon amounted, at the same time, to 
eighty-six thousand two hundred and fifty-two dollars per 
annum, which is annually distributed through the State for 
the benefit of schools. In the small State of Rhode Island, 
in 1831, there were three hundred and twenty-three pub- 
lic schools, in which were taught seventeen thousand and 
thirty-four pupils. In the State of Vermont there were, 
in 1834, one thousand six hundred and twelve public 
schools, which were required by statute to be open for the 
reception of pupils for the term of three months in every 
year. In 1832 the State of New Jersey had, also, a 
school fund amounting, in all, to near two hundred and 
thirty thousand dollars. 

In " the key-stone" State, (the great State of Pennsyl- 
vania,) early attention was given to the cause of educa- 
tion. The illustrious Penn, in his " Preface to the Frame 
of Government," remarks that " that which makes a good 
constitution must keep it, viz : men of wisdom and vir- 
tue—qualities that, because they descend not with worldly 
inheritance, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous 
education of youth." In this " Frame" he provides for 
the establishment of public schools by the Government, 



21 

Also, in the constitution of 1790, the Legislature of this 
State is required, " as soon as conveniently may be, to 
provide, by law, for the establishment of schools through- 
out the State, in such manner that the poor may be taught 
gratis." Pennsylvania has now a large school fund, the 
annual income of which will, in a few years, amount to 
one hundred thousand dollars, at which time the Legis- 
lature is to dispose of it " for the promotion of free 
schools." The little State of Delaware had, in 1834, a 
school fund of one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. 
The State of Maryland had, also, a school fund, in 1831, 
of near one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, besides 
an annual tax of twenty per centum on bank capital, for 
the same object. 

Education in the " Old Dominion," before her separa- 
tion from the mother country, was not only neglected, 
but absolutely discouraged. " The most distinguished 
governor which Virginia had during her colonial state" 
wrote to the Committee on Colonies in England in the 
following disgraceful manner : " I thank God, there are 
no free schools or printing ; and I hope we shall not have, 
these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedi- 
ence, and heresy, and sects, into the world, and printing 
has divulged them, and libels against the best govern- 
ment." But (as might well have been expected) after 
the declaration of independence, education seems to have 
been one of the first subjects which engaged the atten- 
tion of the leading politicians of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson, 
who was always at the post of usefulness and of honor, 
was found, among the foremost of her sons, urging, with 
all the energies of his great mind, the establishment of 
" a general system of education for ' all classes' of the 
community." The system of common schools, recom- 
mended by this illustrious statesman many years since, is 



22 

now being carried into successful practice, and has alrea- 
dy been eminently useful. North Carolina is accumu- 
lating a school fund, and anticipates the adoption of a 
common-school system. The State of Georgia has a 
school fund of more than five hundred thousand dollars, 
from which much practical benefit has already been de- 
rived. The chivalrous State of South Carolina has also 
appropriated, as a fund for the support of a system of 
" free schools," the sum of four hundred and forty-one 
thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars and nine- 
ty cents ; and, in 1832, had no less than eight hundred and 
seventeen " free schools" in operation. The new States, 
likewise, (as we may notice more particularly hereafter,) 
have generally been well provided for in this respect on 
their admission into the Federal Union. 

With these bright examples before her, what is to pre- 
vent Tennessee from pressing forward, with a laudable 
emulation, in this highway to excellence in knowledge and 
virtue! With a climate congenial, a soil productive, a posi- 
tion as to the confederacy nearly central ; and far removed 
from the demoralizing influence of a commerce too great 
or too active on the one hand, yet sufficiently great, so as 
not to induce inertness, on the other; with these advan- 
tages, and this happy mediocrity, what obstacle opposes 
our progress in usefulness and even to eminence in these 
pursuits 1 If, indeed, it be true that the progress of letters 
has uniformly "followed that of arms," Tennessee must be 
destined speedily to take a noble and elevated stand in 
literary pursuits, not only in America, but as to the civilized 
world. But, gentlemen, I need not urge upon you, or upon 
my countrymen generally, by argument or example, the 
necessity of immediate action on a subject of such thrilling 
interest and paramount importance. All realize that it is 
the only pillar of our political safety— the only sure founda- 



Zo 



tion on which we can reasonably build our hopes for the 
permanency and continuance of free government. It is 
the ark of our political covenant — the rock of our de- 
fence. 

However true this conclusion is, yet it may be properly 
asked, where shall we obtain the indispensable means to 
put into successful motion some practical system, such as 
has been referred to as existing in other States, the 
beneficial effects of which will be felt, and appreciated, 
and disseminated, in every portion of this wide-spread 
community] Where is the golden lever that is to move 
forward a machinery so complicated, with sufficient mo- 
mentum to attract public attention, and to enlist the 
united, zealous support of Tennessee's chivalrous and 
enlightened sons \ If our schools and our colleges have 
not been cheated out of their " birthright" they have, at 
least, (I fear,) unfortunately and irretrievably lost the 
larger portion of those means that were designed for 
their protection and support. An ample fund, sufficient 
for the staff of mental life, was provided for our State, by 
the liberal policy of the General Government, in the terms 
of its admission into the Federal Union. But where shall 
we search for this fund now 1 Will public men, who are 
the guardians of the public interest, respond to this in- 
quiry 1 Or shall we find the response in the scarcity 
and dilapidated condition of our schools, colleges, and 
academies 1 Or in the number of the illiterate and un- 
educated that are to be found among the poor, or rather 
among the middling classes of society, in this country ?-— 
(for we have no really poor in this country.) Or will this 
inquiry be answered by a reference to the inconsiderable 
and meager school fund which remains in the coffers of 
the State 1 It needs merely be mentioned to be remem- 
bered, that it was provided, among other things, in an 



24 

ordinance that was passed by Congress in 1787, for the 
government of the then territory northwest of the river 
Ohio, that " religion, morality, and knowledge, being 
necessary to good government and the happiness of 
mankind, schools and the means of education should 
for ever be encouraged." The new States, which have 
since been formed out of that territory and admitted into 
the Federal Union, have received one thirty-sixth part 
of all the lands within their chartered limits, respectively, 
besides other donations from the General Government, 
for the benefit of schools, which ensures them an ample 
endowment for all their literary institutions. Tennessee 
afterwards united herself to the confederacy, on the ex- 
press condition that her inhabitants were never to be de- 
prived of the privileges which the people of the territory 
northwest of the Ohio were to enjoy. In pursuance of 
this condition it was afterwards provided, by act of Con- 
gress, that two hundred thousand acres of land should 
be laid off, the one-half in East and the other in West 
Tennessee; the half of the proceeds of the same, at two 
dollars per acre, was to be applied to the use of two col- 
leges, to be located, one in each of the great natural 
divisions of the State, and the remainder to be appro- 
priated for the benefit of academies. According to a 
fixed policy of this country with regard to the public do- 
main, these lands were afterwards conveyed to actual 
settlers at one-half the stipulated price, depriving these 
institutions at once of half the beneficent patronage of 
Government, and striking a deadly blow at the rising 
prospects of the State. Tennessee was equally unfortu- 
nate in the next effort that was made by Government to 
endow her institutions of learning. It was also provided 
that the State of Tennessee should, moreover, in issuing 
grants and perfecting titles, locate six hundred and forty 



25 

acres of land to every six miles square, in the territory 
ceded to the State of Tennessee, to be appropriated for 
the use of schools for the instruction of children for ever ; 
thus placing her on an equal footing with the other new 
States of the Union. But of this she has only received 
some twenty-three or four thousand acres, leaving a defi- 
cit of more than half a million of acres of land to which 
she is justly entitled. No hope now remains, however, 
for further aid from this quarter that can be of much 
avail to this object. The remnant of the public lands 
that is yet unappropriated in this State, and which justice 
and policy demand should be speedily added to the school 
fund, cannot be of much consequence, in what way soever 
it shall be applied. But shall we cease to make exertions 
to overcome these opposing obstacles, or shall we brood 
over our misfortunes, in despair of the cause of education 
—in despair of the republic — and lose sight of all the 
bright visions of the future'? This is impossible! There 
is no object that is worthy to be desired, that is not at- 
tainable. There is no difficulty so arduous that it cannot 
be overcome by the enterprising genius and energy of our 
citizens and the exhaustless resources of the country. 
And, in proof of these conclusions, as well as in justice 
to the State, it must not be forgotten that she has, 
notwithstanding the misfortunes and embarrassments 
which we have enumerated, accumulated a considera- 
ble fund for the purposes of education ; but not an 
amount sufficient, of itself, to promise to be perma- 
nently useful to the country at large. The whole amount 
of this fund, arising from its various sources, to wit : from 
the capital and interest of the new State bank, the sale of 
the Hiwassee, the twelve and a half cents and one cent 
per acre lands, the donation of John Rice of five thousand 
acres of land, the stock of the old bank of the State at 



26 

Knoxville, the bonuses of the three banks now in opera- 
tion in the State, and also of the fire ensurance company, 
may be computed at a sum between five and six hundred 
thousand dollars. There is, also, another source from 
which, it seems to me, we may reasonably hope for an 
additional income to be annually added to this sum ; I 
mean the interest that will accrue on that portion of " the 
surplus revenue" that is to be deposited with the treasurer 
of the State, which, if it should be added to the school 
fund, will soon swell it to an amount commensurate with 
the wants of the country. For it will be remembered 
that the present Congress (by, perhaps, the most equita- 
ble and the least exceptionable disposition which could 
have been made, under existing circumstances, of the 
surplus revenue of the General Government) have placed 
more than a million of dollars within the control of your 
local Legislature, to be used for the benefit of the State. 
It is true, however, that a question may be raised as to 
what is the most suitable and proper object to which the 
proceeds of this new capital should be applied, or whether 
or not, for the present, it should receive any direction at 
all 1 If this were a time and place to indulge in political 
sentiment or political discussion, I should take the occa- 
sion to express a regret that a " surplus" fund has ever 
found its way to the public treasure, and to offer some of 
the reasons by which I have been, individually, induced 
uniformly to favor the curtailment of the sources from 
which the present superabundance has been produced. 
But for our purpose, or so far as it concerns the disposi- 
tion or application of the proceeds of the surplus revenue, 
it is immaterial whether this fund has been accidentally, 
incidentally, or improperly collected. It is admitted, on 
all hands, that the Government has no need of the whole 
of this sum, which has been taken from the pockets of the 



27 

people ; and that, to them, equity demands " the surplus" 
should be returned, as far as practicable, and as is conso- 
nant with the principles of constitutional law ; and that, also, 
a part of this amount is now in the disposing power of the 
State Legislature. If it be right that this surplus should, 
if possible, be disbursed among the people ; or, in other 
words, " be returned to the pockets of the people," I would 
ask how this object can be so nearly approached, in this 
State, as by the application of the proceeds of our portion 
of it to the purposes of common education 1 By this ap- 
plication of it its benefits will reach every neighborhood, 
eveiy family, throughout the community ; its blessings will 
be equally diffused among the whole people ! None of the 
many local and sectional objections which may be properly 
urged against its appropriation to any other object, can 
be maintained against its application to this most neces- 
sary and useful of all objects ! May we not, therefore, 
trust and look with some degree of confidence to the 
learned and distinguished members of our enlightened 
Legislature, (who are now assembled at the Capitol, in 
this beautiful city, to deliberate upon this subject,) for a 
safe, economical, and profitable investment of this fund, 
so that, at no very distant day, if properly husbanded, its 
proceeds will accumulate an amount, connected with 
other resources, sufficient to send forth streams of living 
light and knowledge into every hamlet, dell, and cottage 
within our borders. The anticipation of this result excites 
the cheering hope that the wasted and too long neglected 
genius of this country, much of which has been " born to 
blush unseen," may yet be gathered from its obscurity, 
and disciplined in the school of the people, to defend their 
rights and maintain their liberties ; that Tennessee may 
yet have her Henrys, her Franklins, her Hamiltons, her 
Jeffersons, to plead the rights of man ; her Coopers and 
her Irvings to record their deeds in story, and to throw an 



28 

enchantment over her beautiful hills and mountains, her 
cultivated fields and fertile valleys. 

But while we have reason to lament the melancholy des- 
titution of primary schools in this State, it is with the liveliest 
emotions of gratification that we refer to the better success 
of some of our higher institutions of learning. The East 
Tennessee and Greenville Colleges, and the Southwestern 
Seminary, at Maryville, which are still flourishing institu- 
tions, have been extensively useful, and are identified 
with the character and prosperity of our State. 

The Jackson College, at Columbia, which has been late- 
ly founded on a permanent basis, promises to be of high 
utility. Similar remarks might be made with regard to 
many academies in various parts of the State. But the 
Nashville University may now be regarded as the " cherish- 
ed object of every man's pride," not merely in this city and 
State, but throughout the "great Southwest" Its healthful 
and central location, aside from its other merits, ensure 
for it the most favorable consideration from this vast and 
wealthy portion of the country. The champions and pa- 
trons of education, on whom its destinies have more im- 
mediately and mainly devolved, have encountered and 
overcome the numerous and appalling difficulties and 
embarrassments which usually beset all literary institutions 
in their infancy. Its present accomplished president, with 
a perseverance, ability, and moral courage, peculiar to 
himself and worthy of the noble cause, has prostrated the in- 
veterate and stubborn prejudices which once unjustly ex- 
isted against this young and rising institution, by the dint 
of argument, the force of truth, and the power of example. 
The calumnies by which this seminary of learning was 
once represented as being the school of sectarian doctrines 
and party politics, or the favorite of the wealthy and 
aristocratic of the land, or as the seat of the reckless and 
dissipated sons of fortune, have been boldly met and re- 



29 

luted, not by the force of truth and eloquence alone, but 
also by the lofty bearing of the alumni, and the high distinc- 
tions to which they have attained, many of whom are 
living witnesses that merit is the only test of eminence, 
and the highway to preferment, within her halls ; that, in- 
deed, many spirited young men, without fortune, family 
distinction, or even pecuniary means, have borne away in 
triumph the highest collegiate honors her faculty could 
bestow. In comparison with other literary institutions of 
the " great West," she now stands on high and enviable 
ground, if not on a peerless eminence, in what light soever 
she maybe regarded, whether as to the course of instruc- 
tion, the discipline, the number and moral habits of the 
students, or the character and reputation of the alumni. I 
will here be permitted to remark, in justice to the friends 
and patrons of this institution and the principles which 
are here taught and inculcated, that, in whatsoever situa- 
tion or department of life my lot has been cast, whether 
at the bar in courts of justice, or in the councils of the 
country in the halls of the State or National Legislature, 
I have there uniformly met, and witnessed, with pride 
and exultation, the alumni of our own " alma mater" ad- 
vocating the cause of the unfortunate, the injured, and 
the oppressed, or fearlessly repelling error, and boldly and 
ably battling on the side of liberal principles and popular 
rights. They are, already, dispersed into almost every 
part of this great confederacy, discharging important social 
duties, and executing high and honorable trusts in the 
administration of the Government, or engaged in fighting 
the battles of the country in the defence of the homes and 
firesides of our brethren on the borders of the republic* 



* A number of them are at this time in the expedition to the Withlacoochee ; 
of whom, among - the officers, are Major A. F. GofF and General W. Barrow. 



so 

In view of this simple statement of facts connected with 
the history of the alumni, may not the Nashville University, 
with propriety, join in this patriotic declaration of the gal- 
lant Commodore Preble, " Our sons, they are our coun- 
try's !" Or point to her sons, and like the mother of the 
Gracchii exclaim, in ecstacies of joy, " These are my 
jewels !" Is she not entitled to higher honors than were 
awarded to the Roman matron ! Our country owes her a 
statue of gold ! 

But, finally, how invaluable is the inheritance de- 
rived from our ancestors ! and how priceless the legacy 
which they have bequeathed to us ! How auspicious have 
been the first dawnings of our political existence ! How 
prosperous our brief national career ! How responsible the 
charge that is committed to our keeping ! and with what 
untiring zeal should we endeavor to maintain and per- 
petuate the blessings of our glorious institutions, by 
the advancement of knowledge and the cultivation of 
mind ! It has devolved on America to test the experi- 
ment of a Government founded on the popular will ; and 
upon this age to prove the utility of popular systems of 
education, for the enlightenment of the public mind. If the 
exhaustless resources of this country can be brought to 
bear, in some measure, upon these experiments, may we 
not hope that the proudest anticipations, which our present 
elevated position among the nations of the earth, and our 
present expanded prospects may suggest, shall be realized 
in tenfold blessedness ; and that, in the progress of the 
great drama of human events, Time's destroying hand 
may here find a mighty structure of wisdom and virtue 
mocking his power and defying his efforts ! 



Gentlemen Alumni of the Senior Class :* 

This is. perhaps, the most interesting moment of your 
lives ; you are about to quit scenes and sever connexion:: 
that have been long and dearly cherished ; you are about to 
exchange the shady retirements of a collegiate course, and 
the halcyon days of youthful anticipation, for the sunshine 
and sober reahties of life. You will be no longer under the 
wise guardian-hip and protection of the president and 
faculty of the University. Henceforth, each of you will 
stand or fall by the merit or demerit of liis own deeds, 
prompted by his own judgment. However painful or in- 
teresting these reflections may be. or however evanescent 
and delusive are all human prospects, yet we have high as- 
surances and full confidence that you will be useful to society 
and ornamental to your country. We therefore cordially 
greet you on this occasion, as our younger brothers in the 
great family of the alumni of the Nashville University; and, 
in behalf of the society which I now represent., and of which 
you will soon be constitutional members. I shall merely 
remind you, individually, ever to recollect the wise and 
salutary admonitions which you have received, and to prac- 
tise on the precepts which you have been taught, during 
your collegiate course ; to be faithful to " edmei mater'.' to 
your country, and to your God. You will soon leave this 
institution, and go forth into the world ; and. as you go, 
you will cany with you the blessings of your venerated 
president, the best wishes of the alumni, and the prayers 
of all good men for your future prosperity and success 
through the journey of life. 

' This class of the University graduated on the following day. 



